Peer

An Edward Lowe Foundation Peer-Learning Initiative

Learning

PRESENTED BY PEER COACHING NETWORK

PeerSpectives roundtables enhance leadership

abilities, improve decision making, say participants
“
M y company is currently
in the black because of
PeerSpectives,” says Bill
Norris, founder of Insurance Data
Services, a medical billing company in
Wyoming, Mich.
Norris joined a PeerSpectives
roundtable in early 2006. Although IDS
had been successful for nearly 30 years,
the company had gotten off track and
was bleeding red ink.
Many of the company’s problems
were due to managers becoming
“lackadaisical,” Norris says. Yet sharing
his issues at the roundtable and hearing
how other CEOs handled similar
situations had immediate impact.
“IDS has been on an improving time, on-target feedback. You’re sitting referring to her roundtable’s focus on
basis since I joined PeerSpectives,” with a group of people who know what second-stage companies.
Norris says. “We’re doing a better, faster it’s like to be in your shoes. They’re One of the things that sets
job for our clients, and in terms of facing many of the same issues, and you PeerSpectives apart from other
profitability, both my company and our benefit from someone who has ‘been roundtable programs is an emphasis
clients are in better shape than ever.” there, done that.’ There’s a sense of on sharing experiences as opposed to
trust and accountability you just don’t giving advice.
Unique methodology find with a group of strangers.”
Based on peer learning, Indeed, commonality is a big Experience-based learning
PeerSpectives is a CEO roundtable attraction for Chris Willis in Grand “It’s about discovering more
system created by the Edward Lowe Haven, Mich. than one right answer,” Willis says.
Foundation, recognized nationally for “PeerSpectives is a place where I can “If someone gives me advice, it
its work in peer learning. The program talk with other experienced executives closes my mind to other possibilities.
was originally designed for leaders of and entrepreneurs about the special Instead, PeerSpectives members
second-stage companies—businesses needs my company has,” says Willis, ask questions that make me think
beyond the startup phase that are CEO of Media 1, a second-stage about my situation and resources,
focused on growth. Yet PeerSpectives company that creates online learning which empowers me to see things
also benefits second-tier management in programs for large firms. differently.”
for-profit companies as well as leaders A few months after joining The most valuable business
of nonprofit organizations. PeerSpectives, Willis left a roundtable lessons stem from being in the
“Peer learning is becoming a national she had belonged to for several years. trenches, points out Steve King,
trend,” says Penny Lewandowski, “Up to then, it had been one of president of Anderson Lubricants
the foundation’s director of my favorite groups. But I didn’t have Inc., a lubrication distribution
entrepreneurship. “One of the things time for both, and I was getting more company based in Superior, Wis.
that makes it so appealing is the real- value out of PeerSpectives,” she says, “Sitting around a PeerSpectives

roundtable with seven other business
owners and drawing from their
experiences not only has helped me
get through a couple of jams but also
see how to avoid some in the future,”
King says.
King also credits PeerSpectives for:
• Improving his relationships
with employees.
• Making policy changes with
more confidence.
• Better time-management skills.
• Reassurance on past decisions.
“When I first joined PeerSpectives,
my company was looking at some
competitive threats,” King explains. “I
was able to walk away with confidence
that we were on the right path.”
A trusted environment
Similar to the Las Vegas tourism
ads, what’s said at the roundtable stays
in the roundtable.
“Every conversation is confidential,
so you can really let your hair down,”
says Ed Amaya, president of Kenowa
Industries, a custom metal fabrication
company in Holland, Mich.
Amaya credits PeerSpectives for
helping him work through an awkward
personnel issue involving senior
management, one that was “the most
difficult situation I’ve faced since
becoming president,” he says.
Although Amaya had some initial
ideas for handling the problem, he
hesitated to act because he was in
unfamiliar territory. Getting feedback
from the roundtable gave him the
confidence to move forward. “They
“We all own different kinds
of companies, but our
problems are the same.
Each time someone
throws out a story, there’s a
solution—or, at least, a path
not to take.
—Bill Norris of IDS
affirmed that my plan was the right
thing to do—and gave me some ideas
for how to present the solution,”
Amaya says.
Besides providing a confidential
forum to share problems, Amaya finds
the roundtables inspiring.
“You leave meetings feeling
rejuvenated because you know other
people are going through the same
things you are—that you’re not alone,
and that they’ve come out on the other
side,” he says. “It’s helped me personally
Peer Learning
as well as professionally.”
Trained facilitators
Key to PeerSpectives’ success are
trained facilitators and a protocol that
ensures balanced discussion, explains
Dino Signore, manager of program
development at the Edward Lowe
Foundation. “No one talks too long
or too little,” Signore explains. “Time
is built in not only to discuss new
problems, but also to give updates on
past issues.”
These updates create a sense of
accountability, says Norris.
“When I present an idea to the
group, I’ve got 30 days to get some
action going, because I have to go back
and tell these people what happened,”
he explains. “I haven’t had to be
responsible to anyone but clients for 30
years. Yet the roundtable now makes
me responsible to my peers, which is
very motivating.”
And even if a discussion isn’t one
he initiated, Norris says that he still
learns. “We all own different kinds of
companies, but our problems are the
same,” he explains.
“Each time someone throws out a
story, there’s a solution—or, at least,
a path not to take. And that’s just as
helpful—knowing what to stay away
from, what to guard against.”

PeerSpectives broadens its reach

Originally designed for second-stage For more information about joining a
entrepreneurs, PeerSpectives is now available PeerSpectives roundtable:
to leaders of nonprofit groups and individuals
from noncompeting organizations who have the
same level of responsibilities, such as operations,
marketing or finance.
“We realized that, in addition to second- JoAnne Berg, CEO
stage companies, PeerSpectives could help other Peer Coaching Network, Inc.
audiences, so we’ve created individual licenses that www.PeerCoachingNetwork.com
open the program to more people,” explains
Penny Lewandowski, director of entrepreneurship 800.378.7680
at the Edward Lowe Foundation. joanne@peercoachingnetwork.com